Gotta stop watching hunting shows

[fabsroman]

I have been watching Tred Barta lately, because I think he does a somewhat genuine show. He doesn't worry about coming up empty handed. He doesn't worry about have the latest and greatest gear. How, over the last two weeks I have become somewhat disenchanted with him.

Last week, I watched him fish for a billfish grandslam. A guide from Mexico invited him down there to fish for a couple of days and they were fishing using really light tackle. Well, when they hooked a swordfish, the guide wanted to gaf it and bring it home for dinner. Tred didn't want to hear that. He wanted them all to be releases. I am glad that the guide/captain Tred him that on his boat, a release only counted if you actually got ahold of the fish. Just getting to the leader was not enough. I was happy to see Tred sweating like crazy on light tackle to get these bill fish in.

Tonight, I watched Tred trying to kill a mallard in flight using a long bow. Again, a guy, Jerry Mancuso, invited Tred out to Montana to hunt for 5 days to see if Tred could get a mallard or goose in flight with his long bow. Jerry was getting his shotgun out of the truck on the first day as a back up gun for when Tred missed, but Tred made him leave it in the truck. Finally, on the second or third day, Tred killed a mallard. However, I don't think it was the one he was aiming for. A mallard came in close and started flying left to right, and I could see Tred tracking it with the bow. He shot behind it and nailed another mallard that was coming straight in. Of course, he never mentioned that he go the bird by luck.

Before watching Tred Barta, I was watching World of Beretta. I saw the guy from Simon & Simon hit some type fo exotic ram on an overseas hunt. According to him, he shot it through the shoulder, heart, and both lungs on the first shot. However, it took off and ran another 100 yards. He got back on it and shot it again, and it took off running. There was a cut in the action and next thing you know he is standing beside the ram talking about how these rams are so tough and can take such a shot. If you ask me, either the shot placement was poor, or the bullet used was wrong. I don't care what kind of animal you are hunting, if you break the front shoulder there is no physical way it can run that far and that quick.

I forgot to add the Florida quail hunt, where the quails were coming up left and right. If that was wild quail hunting, I would be completely surprised. It looked more like hunting pen raised birds. Of course, I could be wrong and it wouldn't be the first time.

[popplecop]

I agree that most leave a lot to be desired. But the ones that really get me are the deer hunting ones that are done on game farms. I think they are getting to be less of them tho. So far they seem to follow the so called outdoor magazines, telling me how to do it, doesn't matter that it doesn't apply in my particular locale. What I really need is someone to explain to me how come I never miss a duck by shooting in front of it. Have missed 100s by shooting behind them come to think of it.

[Skyline]

Fabs..............where was he and what kind of ram was it?

I have personally shot and guided for several speciesof North American sheep and they are easy to put down, not tough customers at all.

A few years ago I hunted for free ranging aoudad sheep in the Ft. Davis Mtns. of west Texas. Got a nice ram with one shot....broke both shoulders and he wasn't going anywhere, but from what I saw while I was there (granted, limited exposure) they are way tougher than our North American sheep. They are originally from north Africa though and African game, while not hard to kill with a well placed shot, definitely have a strong will to live.

[fabsroman]

Skyline,

I cannot remember exactly where he was, but it was a rather poor show. He even missed what looked like an easy shot on a chamois, only to get a second chance later on at a different chamois. I know the guides spoke English with an accent.

Okay, I looked up the show on OLN's website and it appears that he was hunting the ram and chamois in New Zealand.

[Skyline]

New Zealand................could the 'ram' have been a himilayan tahr? Short thick looking horns and long shaggy coat on the neck and shoulders?

[fabsroman]

Yep, that would be the correct animal. Are they really tough enough to take one through the shoulders and heart without even going down, run 100 yards, take another standing still quartering away, and then run off far enough such that the camera cuts off and then comes back on right as they are walking up to the animal? I have never shot one, so I wouldn't know exactly, but I still think that a bullet through the shoulders and heart, as this guy proclaimed, on that ram, with enough cartridge behind it, would not allow it to run off like that. Then again, the shoulders/heart comment was made as they were walking up to the animal. Until they actually started processing the animal, who knows exactly where he hit it.

[Skyline]

Fabs.................well I have never shot a tahr yet either, but I know guys who have and they say they are tough and react much like our mountain goats.

I have shot quite a few mountain goat and guided for them a fair amount and they can be 'tough'.......by that I mean if you don't actually break the shoulders (the bullet passes through some of the shoulder muscle and the lungs but doesn't break the shoulder bones) they may just keep going and fall off a cliff.

I always try to anchor them on the spot to prevent this. If both the front shoulders were actually broken it couldn't go anywhere......only one shoulder, yes it can keep going, just not very quickly.

Goats can be rather tenacious........

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I don't care much for ted barta..or his cocky know it all attitude... I seen him shoot at a bou that must have been a hundred yards away and on the trot....now is he that good with a bow?? doubt it...wounded critter would be the outcome as far as I see it....but then he gets a tv show....After watching a homemade video of a pig hunt....I got to see in it as mentioned in the past on another post somewhere..this guy filmed the film crew for a hunt show...It is the first time I ever watched a hunt video that turned my guts..the big hunter that does it for a living mind ya...what a pen shoot that was...but if ya seen the pro's video...looks way way different....maybe they didn't know they were being filmed while filming?..but he has his own show too..

[fabsroman]

I was actually thinking about the wounded animal issue today while driving. Waterfowl are hard enough to kill cleanly with a shotgun, but this guy was trying it with a bow, and got lucky on the one he killed. I was wondering how many he might have nicked and/or sliced open without actually knocking them down, just so that they could fly off somewhere else and die a much slower death. Don't get me wrong, I have had my share of wounded waterfowl, doves, crows, and deer, but it is never because I took a shot I didn't think I could make (i.e., I just plain screwed up). Now, Tred Barta knew the odds of connecting cleanly on a duck or goose were pretty slim, especially since an arrow does not provide multiple hits like a shotgun.

I think I am going to stay away from the hunting/fishing shows for a little while.

Come to think of it, I think almost anybody could have a hunting show. With the correct amount of editing, anything can be made to look good. If I spend less time watching these shows, I might be able to spend more time at the range or in the field.

[Classicvette63]

The last hunting show I had any use for was a local one, Call of the Outdoors with Harry Allaman.

Actually I think the hunting shows on now are bad for the sport. Too many guys see those monster bucks at some preserve and figure that is the way it should be on public land. That can't and won't happen. Fabs has a point, instead of watching that garbage, maybe that time would be better spent actually out in the woods.

[drummer]

I think Vette makes an excellent point:Ever notice that those shows are on first thing in the morning, when hardcore hunters are afield?

I have respect for some of the tastefully done programs (which are few and far between), but the majority of deer and big game shows are done by those Drugstore Cowboy types.
I did see a cool grouse hunting video made by amateur hunters in Pike County, KY back in the 80s.As you know, getting a grouse kill on film is extremely difficult.

I'm guilty of watching those redneck hunting programs on The Men's Channel sometimes.Some of them are entertaining and some of them are the pits. It's kinda like watching Jerry Springer or rasslin.

Things that purterb me about outdoor programs:

The lodge:Where the servants give you a massage, a 5 star banquet, and a shoeshine. How about something more realistic to the average sportsman like, "Let's get him field dressed and go back to the house and watch the second half of the game."

I cannot stand all the whispering to the camera- if you need to be quiet, be quiet!After the deer is dead, you can talk freely.When the host is still whispering over the carcass of an animal that is obviously "hors d' combat" I'm left scratching my head.

The phrases "Awesome" "He's down" and "That's what it's all about" have been used ad nauseum.

Don't pet the dead game. It doesn't enjoy being petted at this stage and it's creepy, like petting a dead dog or something.

Less machismo and more humility I say.

[fabsroman]

Drummer,

I agree completely. What is up with the whispering. If you want to hear a voice during the hunt, how about editing something in there like a play by play.

At the end of the day, I would prefer to have more informative programs on. Not, we took this huge buck over a feed plot, but this is exactly how to set up a feed plot and here are your options. Here is a lesson on deer genetics. Here is another lesson on how to make a man made pond that waterfowl will love. Here is a way to set up your creek, pond, field to attract waterfowl. Here are some lessons on how to blow the duck/goose calls. Here is how to train a dog to hunt upland. Here is how to train a dog to hunt waterfowl. I could go on and on, but I guess those types of programs do not sell. That is why they are on video tape only. If lent hadn't already started, I think I would give up watching hunting/fishing shows. Oh yeah, I am supposed to give up something that I like.

[drummer]

If lent hadn't already started, I think I would give up watching hunting/fishing shows. Oh yeah, I am supposed to give up something that I like.

HE knows, so you can't get away with it.

You know, if I had whispered half as much as those "pros" do when I was hunting with my mentors, I'd have had my ears pinched.

[DaMadman]

Originally posted by drummer
HE knows, so you can't get away with it.

You know, if I had whispered half as much as those "pros" do when I was hunting with my mentors, I'd have had my ears pinched.

I'd have been whacked in the back of the head by Dad and told that if I whispered one more time he was going to throw me out of the deer stand

[pipedreams]

Dango...............how OLD is Tred Barta? And what channel is it on.............

I ask cause it's NOT a common name...............and I had a roomate close to 40 years ago with that same name..........just wondering if'n it could be the same guy.............

Back then (if it's the same guy) he was kind of a preppy with tennis people in his family IIRC........I think they made that machine that spits tennis balls at ya during lessons.......

Eddited to add.................I googled him............and it IS HIM!!

DANG!